Trips down memory lane

Bond with McGuire molded with love

Aside from the fact they were basketball coaches who pledged their allegiance to the college game, Ray Meyer and Al McGuire had almost nothing in common.

Marquette's McGuire was a showman, an egotist, an unabashed self-promoter who sought the limelight, figuring if he were the star of the show, his players would be free to concentrate on playing.

DePaul's Meyer was "Coach," an unpretentious basketball lifer who believed the game belonged to the players, a teacher first and a celebrity not at all, well-worn brown loafers to McGuire's snazzy tux.

But the two men genuinely loved each other.

"I coached against coach Meyer in his last regular-season game," recalled Rick Majerus, a former McGuire assistant who later became Marquette's head coach, "And Al called me before the game. He said, `You're not going to win, so don't even think about it. Don't do anything theatrical, and don't be too disappointed.'

"Sure enough, I go out first, and I hear this incredible roar from the crowd. It's coach Meyer coming out of the tunnel. The officials go over to greet him, they pose for pictures with him, they escort him over to his family and as he's walking by Coach winks at me. `Yeah, I'm going to win tonight,' I thought.

"I said to one ref, `I'm not going to get a single call tonight, am I?' He said, `Coach, you're up against a legend. The only thing legendary about you is your appetite.'"

Majerus was courtside for dozens of games in the Marquette-DePaul rivalry, one of the Midwest's best. Marquette had the better of it in McGuire's day, primarily because he paid more attention to recruiting than Meyer. He capped a remarkable run in 1977 by winning a national championship in the last game he ever would coach.

McGuire had become a TV star by the time Joey Meyer's recruiting efforts helped restore DePaul on the national stage. His joy was palpable and he was more excited than Meyer when he interviewed his buddy after a victory over UCLA sent DePaul to the Final Four in 1979.

When McGuire died in 2001, Meyer's reaction was the most heartfelt of the dozens we collected. Losing a friend 14 years his junior was a grim reminder of his own mortality, sure, but losing a friend was the hard part.

"I'll always remember Coach Ray with a smile on his face, Margie on his arm and a great play in that beautiful basketball mind of his," Majerus said.